Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1161956
72 SMT007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2019 are not good for anyone. Joint standards, or J-STD, are the joint effort of both IPC and EIA to develop common and very popular standards, such as J-STD-001 (acceptability requirements), J-STD-002 and 003 (solderabil- ity requirements of component and PCBs), and J-STD 20/33 (moisture-sensitive packages). By the way, J-STD-001 is the real standard and not IPC-610 for accept/reject criteria of sol- der joints. Even though IPC-610 is more popu- lar and common than J-STD-001, is the visual and in-color representation of requirements established in J-STD-001. It is a tribute to both IPC and EIA to agree on common joint stan- dards. It prevents confusion and helps every- one in our industry to promote higher quality and reliability by agreeing on a common set of requirements for some of the critical issues, such as accept/reject criteria, solderability, moisture sensitivity, and many others. Standards and You As noted earlier, the development of standards takes time, but the process for development and approval ensures all meaningful technical inputs are considered and reviewed by everyone concerned. The people who develop and pub - lish the standards are unpaid volunteers from different companies. One of their main goals is to make sure the standard does not benefit a specific company but the entire industry. IPC and other standards are only as good as the willingness of participants to share their expertise and time. Having been involved with IPC for decades and chairing over half dozen IPC committees, I can also say that it is very important to have a core group of dedicated volunteers who will attend almost every phone and in-person meeting and their companies encourage their participation as company pol- icy. Only then are good and useful standards developed in less than two years. I have been fortunate to have (and had in the past) a core group of engineers from major companies who helped to develop some very useful standards, such as IPC-7095 (BGA), IPC- 7093 (BTC), IPC-7530 (reflow), IPC-782 (now IPC-7351, land pattern), and IPC-786 (now J-STD 20/33, moisture-sensitive packages). All of these standards were developed pretty quickly, and some of them within 18 months. Yes, the document is released only after every- one across the globe has a chance to review them and give their comments, but the dedi- cation of core team members and IPC liaison staff is the key to developing a good and mean- ingful standard on a timely basis. We welcome anyone and everyone to par- ticipate if you have the time and expertise in a particular standard being developed. For example, we are almost in the final stage for the release of the next revision of BTC stan- dard IPC-7093 (Design and Assembly Guide- lines for BTC). As chairman of that committee, I invite you to participate in the final review of this important industry document. Not only will the industry benefit from your input, but you and your company will also benefit from close interaction with your peers. Some of us have even become lifelong friends and attend these conferences not just for technical meet- ings but to renew our friendships and connec- tions, so please join us. And one more thing, if you are a new graduate, IPC has a deal for you—their mentoring program. IPC President Dr. John Mitchell himself would be delighted to take your call, and I would certainly be glad to hear from you as well. SMT007 Ray Prasad is the president of Ray Prasad Consultancy Group and author of the textbook Surface Mount Technology: Principles and Prac- tice. Prasad is also an inductee to the IPC Hall of Fame—the highest honor in the electronics industry—and has decades of experi- ence in all areas of SMT, including his leadership roles implementing SMT at Boeing and Intel; helping OEM and EMS clients across the globe set up strong, internal, self- sustaining SMT infrastructure; and teaching on-site, in- depth SMT classes. He can be reached at smtsolver@ rayprasasd.com. Prasad is teaching two workshops on BGA and BTC design and assembly at SMTAI in Chicago on September 22, 2019. To sign up for either or both of these workshops, please contact Karlie@smta.org. He also has an upcoming SMT class October 21–23, 2019. More details at www.rayprasad.com. To read past col- umns or contact Prasad, click here.